Honest Thiefis a new style of action movie for Neeson and he almost pulls this movie heist off. It makes for an odd mix of romance that turns into a thriller, with Neeson doing the rough and tumble guy part, but softening his edges along the way. The effort at reform turns sour when a pair of FBI agents in his case attempt to take the money for themselves and frame the bank robber in the process. He’s willing to return the money he stole and turn himself in, just so he can live an honest life, be true to himself and his new love. Honest Thief is about a bank robber that meets the love of his life. Honest Thief shows a transitioning away from those style of action movies, but once you think the bruising side of Liam Neeson is done, he is pulled right back in. The Schindler’s List star rejuvenated his career with a rugged edge, playing the hard nosed characters, making movies that feature an older man, equipped with a mysterious set of skills, with revenge on his mind, and ready to save the day from bad people. When the Liam Neeson action movie blu-ray pack is released in ten years, Honest Thief will be one of the more obscure installments in the bunch. It’s rated PG-13.STARRING: LIAM NEESON KATE WALSH JAI COURTNEY JEFFREY DONOVAN ANTHONY RAMOSĪ’s RATING: 2 ½ STARS (Out of 4) “Honest Thief” premieres in theaters on Oct. Of course, the decision to enter the door to a theater in order to see something this marginal could be another matter. To be fair, “Honest Thief” is honest about its intentions, providing a check-your-brain-at-the-door escape. (As a footnote, Ramos’ wife in the movie is played by “Hamilton” co-star and real-life fiancée Jasmine Cephas Jones.) Neeson has joked in recent years about getting a little long in the tooth to be running around in these sort of movies, but he remains plenty convincing in selling such a premise, even if it’s one this conspicuously slim. Unfortunately, both he and perhaps especially Walsh are saddled with a lot of bad dialogue (the film was written and directed by Mark Williams), in the latter case punctuated by her understandable surprise that the new man in her life is suddenly a fugitive. Mostly, it’s an excuse for Neeson to say things like “I’m comin’ for you” as only he can, and eventually marshal his thieving/safecracking talents against those pursuing him. In pursuit are FBI agents harboring different objectives, the most prominent being Agent Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan), who spends his spare time cooing at his dog, and a pair of younger agents (Jai Courtney, Anthony Ramos) under his supervision. Still, an extended plea deal wouldn’t exactly meet the customary action requirements, so Carter is pretty quickly double-crossed by corrupt agents, forcing him to go on the run and defend himself. When he meets Annie (Kate Walsh), he decides to settle down and come clean, contacting the FBI and offering them a deal: A light sentence, near where she can visit him, in exchange for returning the stolen loot. Neeson plays Tom Carter, a former Marine who has cleaned out enough banks to earn the nickname the In and Out Bandit, and he’s introduced plying his trade. That’s essentially the formula here, although the template actually proves closer to something like “FX” – where the protagonist uses his specialized skills to fight the bad guys – than the most obvious comparisons to Neeson’s filmography. In “Taken,” its sequels and similarly themed fare since – a la “The Commuter” and “Cold Pursuit” – Neeson has carved out a niche as a likable guy who’s easy to root for and a very, very bad idea to cross. Like second-tier John Wayne westerns, Neeson offers enough of what his fans want, but a thin script and stilted dialogue make the battle harder than usual. By the standards of Liam Neeson thrillers (and there are a lot from which to choose), “Honest Thief” is pretty weak tea, a passable, low-octane action movie that doesn’t do much more than steal one’s time.
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